


but what will we do when we’re sober?

by taare



Series: sorry not sorry: kyoshi crack [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, freshly served ridiculousness from your neighborhood bakery, kyoshi being an idiot, rangi having some fun with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29128503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taare/pseuds/taare
Summary: Kyoshi and Rangi drink together at the mansion in Yokoya. Some truths come out.“Kyoshi was drunk, and Rangi was very pretty.Actually, Rangi had been pretty even before Kyoshi had been drunk, but sober-Kyoshi would never be able to admit that, drunk-Kyoshi posited. Sober-Kyoshi was a wimp, she decided, and Rangi was really very very pretty.”
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Series: sorry not sorry: kyoshi crack [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146725
Comments: 11
Kudos: 89





	but what will we do when we’re sober?

**Author's Note:**

> brought to you by your local meme ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Kyoshi was drunk, and Rangi was very pretty. 

Actually, Rangi had been pretty even before Kyoshi had been drunk, but sober-Kyoshi would never be able to admit that, drunk-Kyoshi posited. Sober-Kyoshi was a wimp, she decided, and Rangi was really very very pretty. 

They’d snuck down to the mansion’s pantry in the small hours of the night to raid its stores for toddy and sake and rum, and had stolen whatever they could get their hands on as they smothered giggles, hopping light-footed across the kitchen and settling at the empty table. The house was still; Auntie Mui’s wrath had fortuitously been avoided. 

Hei-Ran didn’t really approve of them drinking, believing them to be too young. It slowed the mind and dulled the senses, she’d complained — but, Kyoshi figured, wasn’t that kind of the point? It had been a rough few weeks here in Yokoya. She deserved a break. _Rangi_ deserved a break. Yun had been running both of them ragged (he didn’t mean to, of course, but in some ways it was inevitable) and Kyoshi figured they deserved some well-deserved time off without him. 

Hence: getting drunk.

Rangi poured them both generous shots of baiju — Ba Sing Se’s best, naturally — and downed hers in one go. Kyoshi followed swiftly and choked, struggling to swallow, the clear liquid stinging its way down her throat. Rangi poured another. 

_You might want to think about how quickly you dole those out,_ Kyoshi thought but didn’t say, lest Rangi think she was a lightweight. 

But, well, Kyoshi was a lightweight. Three drinks later, this fact was exponentially harder to hide. Despite her statuesque height compared to Rangi’s small angry build, the truth remained — Kyoshi couldn’t hold her liquor. And now she was paying the price. 

“Since when do you have a twin?” Kyoshi asked, wishing Rangi would stay in one place. Her best friend swayed back and forth, and Kyoshi struggled to follow her striking form as it split into two and collapsed back into one again, a neat little trick. Kyoshi frowned. She didn’t think Firebenders could do that. She didn’t think the _Avatar_ could do that. 

“Spirits,” Rangi said, her voice muddled and warped, as if she were speaking through a tunnel across a great distance. “You’ve really had a lot, haven’t you?” She reached out over the table to lay hand on Kyoshi’s shoulder, her touch warm and soft and sure over Kyoshi’s night shift. She brushed her thumb over Kyoshi’s collarbone, tender up-and-down strokes seeking to soothe and reassure. 

Kyoshi felt ready to melt into the stone-paved floor. 

“I think that’s enough for today,” Rangi declared, motioning as if to remove her hand and stand up. _No,_ Kyoshi thought forlornly, and placed her own hand to cover Rangi’s. 

Rangi sat back down. 

Kyoshi took the opportunity to take a good look — a _really_ good look — at the girl sitting across from her. Golden eyes glimmering in the candlelight. Loose jet-black hair tumbling down her back. Sleep shirt unbuttoned just this side of appropriate. 

She was stunning. And when her full lips descended into a sleep-soaked smile — Kyoshi couldn’t bear it anymore. She _had_ to know. 

“Rangi,” she stated, as firmly as she could. “Rangi is — is there anyone in your life? That you — that you find…” she struggled to get the words out. “Someone you like? Like, _like_ like?” Kyoshi finished lamely. 

Rangi paused. _That’s rude,_ Kyoshi mused. _She could at least answer the question._

“You can tell me, you know,” Kyoshi continued, conspiratorially. “I won’t tell anyone. Your secret’s safe with me.” 

Rangi merely gaped at her, wide-eyed and open mouthed, before finally spurring into action with a response. “Yes,” she said primly. “There actually _is_ someone I like.” Kyoshi gasped. She had competition. 

“In this very house, actually.” 

Oh, so it was going to have to be war. And so close to home! She pitied whoever would have to fight her for Rangi’s affections. Because she _would_ fight them, damn it. 

She must have said it out loud, because the next words of Rangi’s mouth were, “Kyoshi, I’m already seeing someone.” 

And oh, how easy it was for Rangi to deliver those cruelly cutting words, without a single qualm or care for Kyoshi’s poor secretly-shredding heart. And more than the words themselves, it was the utterly cavalier manner in which they’d been said that drove Kyoshi to distress, causing the dam to finally break. 

She couldn’t help it. Kyoshi started sobbing, the tears streaming down so fast and fierce that her hiccups could only be ministered by Rangi walking over to wrap her traitor-arms around her, warm and inviting. Unlike the rest of her. _Taken!_ Kyoshi’s brain hollered. _She’ll never be yours! Take what you can, because you might not ever get it again, with the way you’re behaving right now!_ And these ideas only served to make Kyoshi sob harder, in a vicious self-perpetuating cycle that seemed only to baffle Rangi completely. 

“Are you quite done?” the tyrant of Yokoya, looter and breaker of hearts herself, asked. When Kyoshi looked up, she could see Rangi’s mouth set in a firm line, concealing barely-disguised mirth. 

It made no sense. In her entire time of knowing her, Kyoshi had never known Rangi to be intentionally callous; to hurt someone for the sake of hurting them. And yet, here she was — she didn’t even have the dignity to _hide_ the fact that she was glad to be seeing someone, all while trampling over Kyoshi’s newly-confessed feelings. 

“I’m not single,” Rangi spelled out carefully, savoring each word as she said it, “because we’re married, you oaf.” 

Kyoshi couldn’t believe it. She _must_ have misheard. Impossible. She would remember marrying someone like Rangi, surely she would.

“Married?” she repeated cautiously, testing the words on her tongue. They tasted like longing tinged with victory. Could it be true? Could this gorgeous, exquisite woman she was proud to call her friend really be her _wife?_

“We have two children, Kyoshi,” Rangi said, patience wearing from thin to non-existent. “I can’t deal with you when you’re drunk, I swear, you’re worse than Yun, and he’s _two_ —”

Kyoshi wasn’t listening. In fact, Kyoshi was entirely checked out in checking _her_ out. She couldn’t help it, could she? It wasn’t her fault Rangi was so pretty — someone should write poems about her, really—

Rangi, spotting Kyoshi’s growing inattentiveness, just sighed. “Come on, you big lug, let’s get you to bed.” And slowly but steadily, her wife (her _wife!)_ helped her up, supporting her weight all the way back to their room ( _only one bed!_ Kyoshi’s brain supplied, unhelpfully). She flopped herself, spread-eagled and sprawling, on her side of the bed.

She’d learned so much tonight, she thought to herself, exhaustion and drink addling the liminal space between waking and sleeping. For example, she’d learned that she was married. She’d learned that she was married _to Rangi._ She’d learned that _they had children together._ And just before slumber overtook her, Kyoshi wondered what else, what other mystical and novel and wonderful things she might learn in the morning. 

In the morning, Kyoshi learned what a _hangover_ was _._

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for all the love and support on the previous piece of nonsense i posted (i’m behind on replying but i’m getting to them, i swear — y’all crack me up). i treasure each and every one of you who read these (this is my extremely unsubtle way of asking for your feedback <3 i know this one’s not as good but i’m curious if the bait and switch worked or was just clunky? idk)
> 
> shoutout to the tags on @xuroky’s reblog of [this post](https://xuroky.tumblr.com/post/641873150911610880) by @silima for the inspiration!


End file.
